Better Than an Owl
by Kelar The Mage
Summary: Harry plays messenger for his niece and an unexpected friend of his son. What is Rose afraid to tell her dad?
1. Chapter 1

This is the product of wondering what Rose and Scorp would do if sorted into houses opposite of what their parents wanted. Somehow, the most logical thought was Harry being made messenger.

...I was half asleep at the time.

HP is not mine, gracias.

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><p>"Sit down, Ron."<p>

The redheaded man looked over his shoulder at the man who had just walked in his backdoor. "I didn't know you were coming over today, Harry," he said. "And...why do I need to sit down?"

"You heard from Rose?"

"...no." Cautiously, he took a seat, suddenly dreading his best friend's news. Had the Hogwarts Express crashed? He didn't think it was possible, but muggle trains had crashed before and so he kind of worried about it sometimes. "What happened?"

"She sent me a tear-stained, terrified letter by owl last night." Harry looked at him, resigned.

Ron couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do or think. Why was his daughter sad and scared, and why the _hell_ had she sent a letter to her godfather instead of him?

"She thinks you're going to disown her."

"Where on earth did she get that idea? What would I disown her for!"

"She's a Slytherin." Harry leaned against the wall, waiting for his friend's reaction.

Ron tried to process this, and his jaw worked like a goldfish for a moment. "...repeat that again, please."

"She was sorted into Slytherin."

He flopped backwards into the chair. "And she thinks I'll disown her for that?"

"You made a joke about it at the platform," Harry pointed out.

"Oh." He'd forgotten that. Shouldn't have scared his little girl like that... "Just one thing. Tell me what house Malfoy's kid is in."

"Scorpius is in Gryffindor with Al," Harry said. "Al told me, in his letter." He gave a crooked smile. "After this, I'm supposed to go break the news to Malfoy too. Scorpius, evidently, has similar fears to Rose."

"Can't blame the kid, with his family," Ron muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"I can't blame Rose, in this family, either," Harry admitted, grinning slightly.

"Can I see the letter, at least?" he asked, after a few seconds.

"Sure." He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over.

_Dear Uncle Harry,_

_I got sorted into Slytherin. There. I've said it. Al told me I could stay with you if Dad disowns me like he was threatening. I really hope he doesn't but I'm scared to tell him myself. If you wouldn't mind, could you __**please please please**__ tell him for me?_

_It really isn't as bad here as everyone makes it sound. One of the prefects told me that she thinks Slytherin is actually closer-knit than the rest of the Houses, because all the other Houses hate Slytherin. But not everyone does. Dominique got sorted into Slytherin too, last year, remember?, so at least someone was super excited that I was there. She stood up and did a war whoop for me. I'm one of three girls in Slytherin. The other two are Flavia Goyle (she's a lot prettier than the Goyle Dad says you all knew, and she says it's because of her mother), and Miriam Nott (she has a replica human skeleton that her dad apparently got from a Muggle shop). Slytherins really aren't as mean as you've been saying. So far, except for my cousins and some of their friends, it seems more like the other Houses are awful. A Ravenclaw girl tried to knock Miriam over as we were leaving the Great Hall, and didn't even bother to apologize. But I think Victoire saw her, so she's probably going to get in trouble, I hope._

_Love you and Aunt Ginny and Lily and all,_

_Rose Weasley_

"Goyle had a daughter?" Ron's eye twitched.

"With Daphne Greengrass, apparently. At least the children are inheriting her looks, I suppose."

Ron shook his head. "The idea that he could even have...Merlin, I don't want to think about it!" He shuddered. "I'll write her a letter, then. Just...what am I supposed to tell Mum and Dad?" He looked at Harry, and an idea formed. "You know, they really do like you a lot, you might have noticed. Could you-"

Harry nodded, and sighed. He really hoped Hugo didn't get into Slytherin, if only to save him from being the bearer of all news. "After Malfoy, I suppose."

"Thanks a million, Harry."


	2. Chapter 2

Note: I don't update my oneshots according to requests from others. That said, ideas will sometimes strike that enable me to take things from a oneshot to a twoshot without trying to force it - and this is one of those lovely things. Enjoy the hoped-for telling of Malfoy.

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><p>Harry had spent years loathing Malfoy, and years hating their manor. In fact, for several years after the war, he had experienced trouble dealing with any of the Malfoys but Narcissa, because he hated their family home so much. Draco had gone from worthy of hate to pity (and still disgust, of course) due to the war. Lucius had remained loathsome... Up till Draco had joined the Ministry, to everyone's surprise, in the Department of Magical Creatures (or whatever it was called - Hermione had gotten it renamed, and he had a secretary and a daughter to remember the name for him), Harry had thought he was still pitiful and disgusting. He couldn't like him, but after seeing how obviously different the man had become, he had been forced to at least respect the man. After all, what other pureblood Slytherin family who had supported Voldemort was actually working to make amends? He did like Draco's wife - Astoria had never been a Slytherin who had willingly went with the program, and in her post-Hogwarts career, she had taken over the business her father had previously run. There had been discussion of confiscating the business from the Greengrass family, but that abated as it quickly became clear that Astoria was not running it to her father's model. What Greengrass before her would have stooped to working with Hermione Granger? Her Malfoy marriage was perhaps the most pureblooded thing she had done, naming her child Scorpius Hyperion the second-most. The Malfoys were public figures, respected, though not liked by many.<p>

Perhaps the thing they had done that meant the most to Harry, though, was not living in some outlandish manor in the country. They had a respectable country home, yes, for summers, but it was modest - a small cottage somewhere in the vicinity of Malfoy Manor, where Narcissa and Lucius still resided, but not too close. Most of the year, however, they lived in a respectable townhouse in London, close to the Ministry, and a short tube ride away from Diagon Alley, where Astoria operated her main offices. It was here that Harry went in the late afternoon, when both parents should be home. Though he could not imagine they would be as displeased as, say, Lucius might be, there was enough Slytherin in them that he worried they might have a bad reaction to the news Scorpius was in Gryffindor. It was with no small amount of trepidation that he rang their doorbell.

Astoria opened it but a minute later, wearing surprisingly muggle slacks and a butter colored button-down. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Of the famed trio, Hermione was the only one she had ever interacted with. "Do you need to speak with Draco, Mr. Potter?" she asked immediately, assuming it must be ministry business.

"I actually need to speak with you both," he said, feeling awkward. This was worse than telling Ron. Maybe worse than telling Ron's parents would be. Merlin's pants, these two had better not make him inform _their_ extended family too!

"Oh," she said, sounding surprised. "Come in, then." She pushed the door shut after her and flicked her wand at it. At his raised eyebrow, she explained. "We have a few less than openminded wizarding neighbors. I prefer to not find our entryway vandalized." She sighed. "Gryffindors have a remarkable power to not comprehend fear, though they got it well enough during all our school years. Would you like some tea? Draco will be home in a few minutes - he and Hermione had a meeting that ran over. I believe it was working with the goblins on another extension of their rights."

Harry was thrown by the sudden topic changes. Astoria was disarmingly open for a Slytherin. "Uh, sure. Some tea would be lovely."

"You do look irritated," she commented, setting a kettle to boil. Everything but the spell on the door she seemed to do with her hands, not a wand, though she could have. Definitely a break from typical Slytherins.

"That's because I've been playing owl today," he said. "My niece was sorted into Slytherin, and was terrified Ron would disown her for it..."

"Poor girl," Astoria said. Then, sharply, she said, "He didn't, right? Otherwise I will be forced to go find Hermione and help her force sense into him."

"No, no, he didn't," Harry said hastily. "He'd said he would as a joke, not thinking she might actually wind up there. Hadn't intended to scare her."

"Good," she said. "I would hate to see Gryffindor turn into a new version of the old Slytherin, with the parents forcing things upon their children." She pulled three mugs from the counter, and a few tea bags from a drawer. "Do you come on Ministry business today? Or is this another instance of, as you say, "playing owl"?"

"It's playing owl," he said. "I'd really rather save it for when Draco's here."

When the man in question suddenly spun up in the fireplace, Astoria smiled. "He's here now." The kettle had just indicated that it had hit boiling, and so she began pouring into each mug. "Draco, Mr. Potter is here, as you might have noticed."

"What's he here for?" Draco asked, taking the first mug she set on the table. "Please don't be about the goblins, I've had enough of them for the day, and Granger's even worse than me. She left the office muttering about going straight to bed."

Harry actually found himself chuckling, and also amused that Draco wasn't used to calling her Weasley yet. "No, it's not about the goblins. I had enough of them breaking into Gringotts. It's about Scorpius."

Astoria actually groaned as she set a mug in front of Harry. "I told him he wouldn't be in trouble if he got sorted Gryffindor," she muttered.

Harry gaped at her. What? She...knew?

"He's such an obvious Gryffindor you can't even imagine it," she told him. "Close your mouth, it's not an attractive look for the Head of the Aurors." He closed it. "We've known he would wind up there since he was four and got into a fight with some boys that were bullying the girl across the street. I even made sure he had red pajamas in his trunk. Idiot boy." She sounded affectionate though she shook her head.

"He's got all the stupid nobility of a Gryffindor," Draco said. "Take Weasley and multiply him by the Creeveys, and you have my son. We've spent the past seven years preparing our parents for it and trying to convince him it was okay to not be a Slytherin."

"I, for one, am going to send him a giant, embarrassingly sappy Howler about how proud I am," Astoria said, rolling her eyes. "He hates me getting affectionate, so this ought to cure him of being stupid in this manner again." She pursed her lips. "That reminds me - where'd your younger son get Sorted?"

"Gryffindor." He locked eyes with Draco. "They're best friends already."

"Well isn't that one to confuse the teachers with," Draco drawled. "I suppose that means I need to prepare myself for seeing all of you in more social contexts."

"I think you'll have less trouble than Ron will with having Flavia Goyle and Miriam Nott at his house each summer. Which is what will undoubtedly happen. Rose is frighteningly social."

Draco just shook his head. "I'm sure it will be fascinating," he said. "I suppose I'll send an owl to Mum and Dad tonight about this, confirm what we've been saying for years now."

Harry nodded, seeming calm. Inside, he was practically cheering. He didn't have to tell the Malfoy grandparents! YES! He could save the tidings on Rosie for dinner at the Burrow tomorrow, and then spend the next year fervently praying that Hugo went into Gryffindor so he wouldn't have to do this ever again. "Very well. I guess I'll see you around." He finished his tea, thanked Asotira, and got up to head for the door, before pausing. "Oh, hey, who are your terrible neighbors?"

"A Mr. and Mrs. McLaggen and their three sons." She got up to walk with him, presumably to take the spell off the door. "For some reason, their sons dislike Scorpius immensely."

It didn't click for Harry until he had actually said goodbye and was out the door and about to disapparate home. He started laughing, there in the street. He officially approved of Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, ridiculous name and all, and he rather suspected Ron would too, once he heard _this_.


End file.
